In the past, apparatus designed to upend steel coils and other heavy items have tended to be expensive and bulky. This was partly due to the fact that considerable power was required for the upending operation, along with heavily constructed supporting structure.
One approach that has been taken to the problem of upending steel coils and the like is exemplified in U.S. Pat. No. 3,395,813, issued Aug. 6, 1968, entitled "APPARATUS FOR TURNING PRODUCTS", Bruce and Nelson. In this patent, an apparatus is disclosed in which the weight of the coil or other similar products is used to supply the force needed for the turning operation, whereby no other source of power is required for turning the products or for returning the apparatus to its original position after the product is turned. The apparatus of U.S. Pat. No. 3,395,813, however, is intended to be mounted in place and immovable. Hence, its considerable bulk is not a problem. However, the apparatus of the Bruce et al patent is not capable of performing any additional operations. For example, the apparatus is incapable of picking up a coil and moving it from one location in a plant to another, with the option of rotating the coil during the transportation.
Hence, the Bruce et al patent is exemplary of the prior art apparatus used in the conventional method of handling coils. Typically, the coils are shipped with the axis vertical, and are removed from the transport vehicle (normally trucks) with a forked attachment suspended on a crane. This attachment moves the coil to a stationary coil upender, and up upending, the coils are normally moved to storage or to the coil processing equipment with another crane attachment. In view of the foregoing, it would be of advantage to be able to eliminate transportation to and from a stationary coil upender, as well as eliminating the change of crane attachment.